SPN Milestone - The Kickoff Event, May 2013

"SPN Milestones" will highlight achievements and past events involving or presented by the Sustainability Professionals Network.

"The Kickoff Event"Timeline: May 2013

Hamilton's Sustainability Professionals Network launched onto the scene on May 15, 2013 with an evening of networking and inspiring presentations at the Pheasant Plucker pub on Augusta Street. Despite being brand new, the kickoff event demonstrated the power and potential of a sustainability network, as we drew over 100 people on a Wednesday evening and more than filled the room at Pheasant Plucker.

The night consisted primarily of a series of IGNITE presentations from a wide variety of speakers talking about their sustainability successes in Hamilton. Speaking to the crowd that night were Ron McLester and Alan Griffiths from Mohawk College, Chris McLaughlin from the Bay Area Restoration Council, Brian Lennie from Horizon Utilities, Abram Bergen from THAAT Co-op, Joel Hilchey from McMaster University, and Sandi Stride from SPN's sponsor organization, Sustainable Hamilton.

Attendees were also encouraged to contribute their thoughts on what the SPN should look like in the future, how the organization should run, what issues were of greatest importance to sustainability in Hamilton, and more. The contributions were compiled by SPN volunteers and presented at a subsequent meeting, and helped form the mission and vision of Hamilton SPN.

The kickoff event was a huge success and proved that there is demand in Hamilton for a network of professionals with an interest in and focus on sustainability.